Date Created: 05/10/2015
Last Updated: 05/26/2015

Honoring Polly Bingham Arnold
9/6/1942 - 5/25/2015

Location: Ashland, Oregon

Visits: 18,101

Polly Bingham Arnold has died. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, sibling, mother-in-law, friend, Humanist, rational thinker, nurse, Peace Corps Volunteer, world traveler, Soroptimist, rosarian and Democrat.

She attended school through the eighth grade in a two room schoolhouse in rural Tennessee. Her jobs on the family farm included bringing in the cows for milking and, along with her sister, chopping 40 acres of cotton twice a season.

She joined the Peace Corps in 1964 immediately after graduation from college and spent five years in Nepal serving others. In 1969 she hiked to the Everest base camp area and then toured Europe for four months, pregnant, with her two young daughters and husband in tow.

Her second degree was in Nursing. After getting her Masters in Nursing she taught at Memphis State University and then Southern Oregon State College. She became the Director of Nursing and Patient Services at Ashland Community Hospital, a job she held for 26 years.

She traveled extensively. Her last foreign trip, taken after her initial treatment for cancer, was to hike long days, including reaching a height of 10,000 feet, in the Himalayas of Bhutan, visiting yak herder villages amid the mountain sides of rhododendron. She then spent 14 days in Nepal.

Phil, her husband of 51 years, her three daughters Shanti, Jackie and Belle, and her grandchildren Lillie, Mathilde and Roman will miss her acutely, but her memory and the lessons she taught them will remain.

Hers was an examined life, well lived and always guided by her clear internal moral compass.

You are invited to share a toast to Polly with other friends and family at Dana Campbell Vineyards, 1320 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland, on Saturday, June 6 from 6 to 8 PM.

Please go to http://www.never-gone.com/Memorials/Polly.Bingham.Arnold and record your memories of Polly and read what others have said about her.

Her family requests you make a donation in her honor to a vetted Nepal earthquake relief fund such as The Gorkha Foundation http://gorkhafoundation.org or Save the Children http://tinyurl.com/nwxa5w8.

 
 
 
 

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Recent Memories & Stories

By: Cindy Parks Saturday, June 6, 2015
Polly-Thank you, I am ever grateful for the influence you had on my life… She was my boss but that does not begin to describe 20 years working for her. She was a strong woman who managed to be so without offending. I... View Entire Memory
By: Thad Pauck Thursday, June 4, 2015
Jack Daniels. No thanks. The Grand Ole Opry. I'll pass. In my opinion, the only good and decent thing to ever come out of the State of Tennessee was Polly Arnold (with Phil a close second). An amazing woman with a... View Entire Memory
By: Richard Andrews Thursday, May 28, 2015
I was one of the 18 Peace Corps Volunteers, the first group of ag extension volunteers, whom Phil and Polly oversaw and mentored and cared for during the two and a quarter years from our training through our years of... View Entire Memory
 
 

 
 

Recent Tributes

By: Suzanne Haveman Friday, June 5, 2015
Dear Phil, Belle, Jackie and Shanti................................ Your dear wife and mother.....my mentor and friend.............opened doors and presented to me opportunities that influenced my life both... View Entire Tribute
By: Earl Webb Monday, June 1, 2015
As one of the Peace Corps Volunteers to Nepal that she and Phil supported 1966-68, I really appreciated all the help she gave me. On this journey through life we meet a lot of people, but very few stand out when you... View Entire Tribute
By: Allen Drescher Thursday, May 28, 2015
Polly was caring, honest, and genuine, and she had the most infectious smile of anyone I have ever known. That is what I will remember most about Polly: her smile. You couldn't help but smile back, no matter how you... View Entire Tribute
 
 

 
 

Recent Condolences

By: Betsy Wilson Thursday, June 18, 2015
I worked with Polly at Ashland Community Hospital from when I arrived in 1991 until Polly retired. She was such a gracious, kind, competent Director of Nursing. She was a wonderful role model for choosing words... View Entire Condolence
By: Cathy Shaw Saturday, June 6, 2015
Polly was kind, thoughtful, caring, and giving; an integral thread in this community; an environmentalist; a member of the good. Our light dims without her spirit traveling our corridors. View Entire Condolence
By: brian graunke Tuesday, June 2, 2015
What an amazing journey and life. Though I never had the privilege of meeting her. She has touched my life by reminding me how the actions an individual can ripple though our shared humanity therefore making the... View Entire Condolence
 
 

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Julie Cartwright 12/12/2015
 
Cathy Downs-Phoenix 9/15/2015
 
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Shanti
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Phil
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Lulu
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jeff
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Belle
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